Forum OpenACS Development: Re: Should an optional service package modify an application package?

Whoops, too quick on the submit and confirm buttons.

DaveB and I were discussing that items like forums really ought to be simply "kinds" of general comments. That is, a general comment is simply a package to attach a forum/bboard discussion to an arbitrary article/object. Why should a forum simply be the creation of a general comment to an empty object? (If I am using the term "empty object" incorrectly please correct me)

Perhaps your feedback idea is taking this conception of general comments and its types to an even higher design discussion?

talli

There's no design doc on the feedback package yet, but I think we all agree that general-comments needs replacing, and that we want it to support more than the current general-comments package does, such as:

- anonymous feedback/not requiring login

- not requiring a title

- ratings

- attaching a file

- feedback types/categories

- structured feedback, such as multiple input fields, ratings along  multiple dimenions, etc.

On an architectural level, I'd rather implement this as a thin layer on top of CR than I'd, say, "attach forums to an object", or for that matter "attach survey to an object". But I'd rather see the feedback package than not, so I'm not religious about it.

As far as the path to implementation goes: It's not on the top of my list.

/Lars